12 actIvItIes of the F'edcral ))ureau of In- vestIgatIon. PrecalttioJl A FRIENI) of ours spent January 2nd at home, as we imagine a g uud many people did, trying to eat a ]jttle something an d wishing he were dead. The morning l11ail did nothing to cheer him up, either; it was a gor- geous sheaf of bills, and a bulky en ve- lope bearing this red-lettered warning: "'r 0 Addressee! If there is illness in the h0111e, please do not open until patient is well." He put the envelope aside and tried to forget it, but of course he couldn't. Late in the afternoon he had a double l\---1artini, to make him well, and opened it. It was a nice new 1 940 calendar, sent him with the compli- ments of Philip Apter & Sons, :Funeral I)irectors. Bird CCllJlIJ J US1-" before the ( , )ld rear waned, we played a l110dest part in the bird census conducted annuaHy hy the local hranch of the Audubon Society. If the existence of a hird census comes as a surprise to you, be infofI11ed that it's 3C of deserted Inansions near] amaica 13ay. 'ro our astonishment, we found that owls actually love deserted mansions, but stalking them has its special peril: cops. rred Pettit told us that last year, engaged in nocturnal owl-hunting, he had been arrested and taken to the Far Rockaway police station three times in one evening, on suspicion of being a prowler. ".L t 6mes like that, there's nothing to do hut go along with the '-Þ "----' "'--"' policeI11an," he told us. "If he doesn't understand, there's no use trying to ex- plain." For a \vhile, until it got light, \ve played safe by listening from the car for birdcalls; this is an important way of noting birds-indeed, in the case of certain small birds, like the warblers, it's about the only way, because you hardly ever get to see them. \Ve heard a white-breasted nuthatch, but no owls. \ \T e then drove over to the shore of Jan1aica Bay and bagged three herring gulls and a great blue heron. At this point a police prowl car pulled up and a cop leaned out. ""That the hell arc you doing here?" he asked. "Look- "' '- ing for birds," rred Pettit said, 111ildly. "Oh, me111bers of that society," the cop said. "Colne on with Ine. I'll show you \vhere to find birds." 1--he Pettits, who had their own, and contrary, ideas about where to find bIrds, never- theless followed the cop's car until he stopped on a road running beside a h " G . ma rs . a on In } " } . d . t lere, 1e saI , al11la- hly, but with a cer- t;lÍn an10un t of author- Ity. ' l--hat' s where to look for birds." He was right, too, as cops prohably often are; v\le noted myrtle warh- lers, swaInp sparrows, horned larks, black- hirds, and black duck., and the Pettits made appropriate notes in logbooks they carried. 'f'he cop having driven off on his crim- inological errands, we took our stand on a suburban street, near the HeinzheÍ111er HomL for Crippled Children. l--ed sen t his brother in to beat the shrubbery of an eInpt)' old house, and before long alar ge, frigh tening owl, a barn owl, flew out of a tree. " \ XT , · h I k " 've re 111Ig ty uc y, Ted Pettit told us, in an awed way. The last leg an institution of forty years' standing. Every winter since 1900, a number of N ew York bird-lovers have undertaken a survey to discover hO\N l11any species of birds were still around, and in what numbers. Their findings couldn't be "- scientifically exact, of course, but, stud- ied from year to year, have contributed quite a bit to ornithological knowledge. 'I--his rear ninety-odd Auduhon mel11- bers, with a sprinkling of fellow-travel- lers like LIS, put in a day each during the:: third \veek in l)ece111ber coun ting birds in Jersey, \\T estchester, Long Island, and the five horoughs of Aew York. 'r'he returns are in now and vve can announce that approxÍ111ately 237 ,oon birds, representing 13 g species, were reported wintering in this area. Two ubliging bird-walkers of Inwood, 'I'cd and Bill Pettit, took us in tow, and we saw a harn owl in Far Rockaway., which is considered good. j'he hest ti111e for bird-walking is from just before dawn to noon. Birds go off somewhere in the afternoon; even Auduhon memhers don't seel11 to know where. By 4: 30 A.M. we had got heroically out to Inw()od, met the Pet- tits, both serious young men in their early twenties, hreakfasted, and started off in the Pettits' car for a neighborhood r k ( "f wish he could'n't take the 'breadwinner' idea so literally." JANUARY 1 , 194-0